Chip mounting systems are systems for surface-mounting an electronic component onto a printed circuit board (PCB), and perform operations of receiving and moving various electronic components, such as integrated circuits (ICs), diodes, capacitors, and resistors, from a carrier tape feeding device to surface-mounting locations of a PCB, and then surface-mounting the various electronic components on the PCB.
The chip mounting systems generally include a tape feeder for providing a carrier tape including a component, a conveyer for transferring a PCB, a head assembly including nozzles to pick up the component from the tape feeder and surface-mount the component onto the PCB, and a driving apparatus for moving the head assembly in a horizontal or vertical direction.
Generally, the carrier tape feeding device continuously provides a carrier tape including an electronic component while separating a cover tape attached to a surface of the carrier tape, thereby exposing the electronic component for the head assembly to pick it up. The carrier tape from which the cover tape is separated is discharged in front of the carrier tape feeding device, and the cover tape separated from the carrier tape is discharged at the rear of the carrier tape feeding device.
Such a general chip mounting system is disclosed in US2003/0230617 (published on 18 Dec. 2003) in detail.
Meanwhile, such a carrier tape feeding device may include a carrier tape loading unit to provided a plurality of carrier tapes. In the carrier tape loading unit, continuity and immediacy of operations may be obtained without having to replace a carrier tape by providing a plurality of carrier tapes. Specifically, in the carrier tape loading unit, the carrier tapes may be sequentially supplied by pressurizing the carrier tapes.